Oregonians head to the polls November 6, 2018. Here is a guide for voters on how to make sure your ballot counts.

Salem Statesman Journal

This story has been updated to correctly reflect Winter's voting record.

First-time candidate Deb Patterson is hoping to unseat four-term Republican Jackie Winters in a race that could tip the Oregon Senate to a Democratic supermajority.

From left, Sen. Jackie Winters and challenger Deb Patterson.

From left, Sen. Jackie Winters and challenger Deb Patterson.

Special to the Statesman Journal

Democrats are one seat away from claiming supermajorities in both the House and Senate in November, which would allow them to raise taxes without Republican support.

The District 10 Senate seat includes parts of Marion and Polk counties, including much of Salem.

Winters, who ran unopposed in the primary, was first elected to the House in 1998, and then to the Senate in 2002.

She is co-vice chairwoman of the powerful Joint Ways and Means committee, which sets the state budget. Among other assignments, she also co-chairs the Ways and Means Public Safety committee.

In November 2017, Winters was named Senate Republican Leader, becoming the first black person to lead an Oregon legislative caucus.

Jackie Winters

Jackie Winters

Courtesy of Jackie Winters

Winters: Fiscal responsibility needed

Winters emphasized that she is known for working across party lines to build consensus.

“That’s been one of my hallmarks all the years I’ve been in state government,” she said.

Winters’ emphasis during her long legislative career, and one she said will continue, has been on budgeting.

“All my work has been trying to make certain you’re doing a good job of managing people’s dollars,” she said.

Her specific goals for the next legislative session include providing more money to help domestic violence survivors; continuing to lower prison costs by diverting some offenders into treatment; and continuing to fund career and technical education for high school students.

Winters said those contributions reflect her emphasis on public-private partnerships.

For example, both she and Tokarski were involved in the effort to fund Family Building Blocks and other relief nurseries, and in working to fund the Salem-Keizer School District’s Career and Technical Education Center.

“It’s the recognition that one entity alone can’t get things done,” Winters said.

Winters also received $15,000 from the Oregon Bankers PAC.

And she received a $5,750 in-kind contribution from the No Supermajorities PAC, formed to prevent Democrats from gaining supermajorities in the House and Senate. So far, that PAC, led by Republican caucus staffers, has raised $486,000 and spent $387,000.

Contact the reporter at tloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-6779 or follow at Twitter.com/Tracy_Loew